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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cape Town – Hank McGregor has set his sights on winning the Isuzu Berg
River marathon, starting just ten days after his emphatic victory in the
ARB Electrical Surf Ski World Cup in Durban.
McGregor banked the biggest ever prize in global surf ski racing after
winning a thrilling duel with Capetonian Dawid Mocke over 35 kilometres in
tough flat ocean conditions from Westbrook beach to Durban on Sunday.
“The ARB World Cup was great training for the Isuzu Berg,” said McGregor.
“It was tough, there was no downwind swell to help us, and a ski is much
bigger than a K1 kayak, so it was like two and a quarter hours of
resistance training”.
McGregor arrives in the Cape on Thursday, with just enough time to trip
roughly half the race route, before the time trial on Tuesday 11 July.
“Day One and Day Two are the critical ones to trip, as the river is so
channeled, and every year there are new routes through the trees and new
sneaks where you can lose a lot of time if you make a mistake,” McGregor
said.
“Day Three and Day Four are flat – you might as well be on Inanda Dam. The
Isuzu Berg is double the distance of the Dusi over four days – it is a
long tough race”, he added.
But McGregor admits that the taxing nature of the Isuzu Berg draws him
back year after year. “Maybe it’s something to do with the fact that I
grew up in the Cape, and watched my dad paddling there. As a kid all I
wanted to do was win the Berg,” he said.
“You have to know what to expect from this race, and be 100% prepared both
mentally and physically,” McGregor added. “Like every other paddler that
has tried this race, I have fond memories, and some not-so-fond memories
of the race, when it felt like the hardest race in the world.”
McGregor is also erring on the side of caution, and has bought a heavier
than usual K1 for the race, banking on the fact that the river will be
low, and the boat will need to be strong.
“I think we will be ramping over lots of trees, so I wanted a boat that
was strong enough to take the pounding”, he said.
Like every other entrant, he is watching the weather forecast closely, in
the hope that well timed winter rains will top up the river from its
present low level. “The ground water level is good, so rains just before
the race will fill the river up nicely, and I’d definitely prefer it to be
full and fast”.
McGregor will take each day as it comes, fully aware that the Cape
paddlers will be at a distinct advantage, as they will know the river
better, and will be ready to work together tactically.
“The backyard boys will be very strong, and I am going to have to be sharp
to stay with them. Having said that, in last year’s race I worked together
with Paul Marais and Simon van Gysen on the last day to break away, so
it’s not improbable that those guys will be happy to work together with me
at some stages”, he added.
McGregor has dominated every Isuzu Berg marathon that he has entered, and
only once failed to win his class. He won the race as a junior in 1996,
and in the desperately low conditions in 2000 he won it on his senior
debut.
He lost a see-saw battle to Jacques Theron in 2004, but bounced back last
year to win his third title in four outings.
The Isuzu Berg River
Canoe Marathon gets under way from Paarl on Wednesday 12 July, following a
time trial the previous day to settle the seeding of the top competitors,
and ends at Velddrift on the West Coast on Saturday 15 July.
ENDS
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